“I’m not trying to run behind nobody like Shaq or be behind somebody else,” Howard said, referencing Shaquille O’Neal‘s decision to leave the Magic following the 1995-96 season and sign with the Los Angeles Lakers.

“I want to start my own path and I want people to follow my path and not just follow somebody else’s path. I want to have my own path, and I want to start that here in Orlando. But I can’t do it alone. Not only do I need the right teammates, but I need the city behind me. That’s the only way it’s going to get done. We can change this small city that we have — this small market that we have — and we can make it a big market.”

“I just got tired of everybody asking me, ‘Where am I going to go? Are you going to stay?’ Everybody in Orlando is asking me,” Howard said. “So it was like, ‘You know what? I want everybody to get their minds off something that is not gonna happen.’ “

All season long, as the topic of his possible departure has been raised, Howard has insisted — sometimes angrily — that he wasn’t preparing to pull another ‘Melo-Drama type escape.

Talk about your home cooking. Howard putting his name in ink on a new deal would certainly be the way to end all the speculation.

But will it happen and, if it did, what would we have to talk about next season?